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April 1, 2013

Friends and colleagues of long-time Capitol reporter Virgil Meibert will gather in Sacramento State University's alumni center April 12 for a memorial service.

Meibert represented the Oakland Tribune in the Capitol for nearly 20 years and held the same post for the Contra Costa Times for three years before retiring from newspapers in 1995. He died in his sleep March 18 at his Sacramento home after a lengthy battle with a variety of illnesses. He was 78.

Meibert grew up in Phoenix, worked as a copy boy at the Arizona Republic during high school and attended Arizona State University before serving four years in the Marine Corps. Upon his discharge, he worked briefly for the Republic, then for the Hayward Review in California for three years before joining the Tribuine in 1963.

Meibert eventually became the Tribune's editorial page editor, then transferred to Sacramento in 1973. He broke several major stories, including one about newly elected Gov. Jerry Brown's job creation plan that resulted in Brown's firing his top jobs official, Jim Lorenz, who later wrote a critical book about the young governor,

Meibert left the Tribune in 1995 and joined the state Senate Office of Research. There, he helped vet gubernatorial appointees before their Senate confirmation hearings, oversaw the cataloging of documents from the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California and wrote a history of California that was included in the sesquicentennial edition of the California Blue Book. He retired from his Senate job in 2011.

He is survived by wife Carole, sons Kenneth and David and three grandchildren. The April 12 wake will begin at 11 a.m., followed by lunch, at the Sac State Alumni Center.